Ok you guys know the drill. Someone sends me an e-mail asking me for a wantlist so I go and pull out a box or binder and write a bunch of numbers on a sheet of paper then I open up notepad and type all the numbers into my computer and then I cut and paste it into a blog post because for some reason I think this mess of site is the idea place to store my wantlists. It happened again so now you get my vintage(y) Topps wantlists post.

I would have a difficult time managing to care less about football cards than I do right now but my love for old Topps crap is undeniable. This sucker will be a work in progress as I decide what sets I deem wantlist worthy. Not sure how far in the past I'm going to bother with and although I've got near sets up to about about 2009 I may just ignore them for the time being. '80s cards? those will be here.

None of this stuff is a huge priority for me at ALL right now but if you have some you want to get rid of, that's cool. If there is actually such a thing as a football set collector out there who needs some cards, let me know. I have stacks and stacks of stuff I don't care about anymore and would love to get rid of. Now, here's the lists:

Monday, June 17, 2013

More card show stuff. Now that the big huge stuff is out of the way I can start showing off the normal ordinary stuff. Fifty-something year old stuff but ordinary fifty-something year old stuff. Short printed ordinary fifty-something year old stuff. Ok it's awesome fifty-something year old stuff and I'm a slackass for not posting this stuff sooner. Here, have a card.

Oh look a 1957 Topps Danny O'Connell card. This was in the bargain box and it got snatched up pretty quick. I'm not a huge fan of the '57 set even though it's Iconic and stuff. It's kinda like the 1952 set in that it's simultaneously hard to find and pretty drab. This is a pretty nice looking '57s though since there's a style to the drab. Lotsa greens and grays and earth tones in the set. There is a definite 1957 Topps color palette. Just check out the grass in that infield and the way the red and blue on the uniform complements it. Looks pretty nice! Beats the super close up portraits with a gray background.

Like most oldy moldy sets, the 1957 set has a scarce series that is tough to find. That series for some reason is the middle series in this set. No idea why no one liked the 4th series of this set, Topps must have gimmicked it up or something. Like all good scarce series, it's chock full of nice rookies that now are much harder to find period, let alone cheap. Bobby Richardson, Jim Bunning and Brooks Robinson hold down the short printed rookie fort in this set. As for Danny, the back of the card says it all. Good defender, light bat. O'Connell played for the Braves for three and a half years before getting shipped off to the Giants in midseason for Red Schoendienst. Missed the World Series by that much. This card was an essential purchase for one reason though:

Completed '57 team page, aaaaaaaaw yiss.

(see what I mean about the '57 color palette? Looks like a '70s independent art film in here)

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

You know the feeling. You're at a card show or a card shop or a flea market or some other seller of cards other than Wally World or Target and you see something absolutely amazing. Something fantastic, something you've never seen before. A card you've always wanted but never quite been able to track down due to rarity or priceyness or lazyness or dumb luck or whatever. Something iconic, a card everyone knows about and covets for themselves. Something that people you know have and show off frequently while you look and admire with envy. Every collector knows dat feel and has gone through it many times. It's actually a nice feeling, being able to look at a great card like that. To be in the same room with it. Sometimes you can ask the shop owner nicely and they will let you hold it while you look at it. You had that card in your hand! It's a great feeling! But there's a better one.

WHEN YOU CAN ACTUALLY AFFORD THE CARD YOU HAVE IN YOUR HAND

That feeling is rare unless you're rolling in the big bucks or know a lot of people who had relatives who were card collectors and are trying to dump a bunch of cards in order to clean out that back closet. That feeling doesn't happen very often but it does happen and it happened this weekend. I was minding my own business, looking through the bargain box and then I saw a card. And then I saw another card. And then I went like this:

That's pretty much exactly what I did when I saw these cards. The dude weighs less and has more hair but that's basically exactly what I looked like. The last time I had a reaction like this was when I found an Ozzie Smith rookie for 5 clams a few years back. You can probably find the same card in the same condition online for $2 nowadays but that's not the point. My idea of card values for anything older than the 1987 Topps set is firmly and permanantly locked into whatever the price was in my 1991 Beckett magazine with a Brave player on the cover. In other words, horribly inflated. This is actually a good thing in my case for a whole lot of cards from the '70s and early '80s because now I find them cheap and get a huge rush from finding such a great deal. It's probably one of the driving forces behind my current push to complete all those sets instead of dropping loads of cash on all the new expensive (for three months at least until the bottom falls out) packs that come out on a distressingly regular basis. Buy low, kiddos. Here I bought low. And it will oficially kick off my push to complete this set. Behold: The Crown Jewels of the mid-'70s.

I was born just a touch too late to have seen a lot of 1975 Topps when I was a kid. Unlike some folks who were swimming in the stuff, I don't think I even saw a 1975 Topps card until after I had been collecting for a few years and even then they didn't do a lot for me. Too many colors I guess. No real pattern. I liked brightly colored cards back then though, 1960 was one of my favorites. 1963 topps too. But those sets had patterns to them. Alternating letter colors on 1960. Red, Blue, Green and Yellow bottom borders on 1963. Just RedBlueGreenYellow! No more, No less. Four colors was plenty. 1975 had colors all OVER the place! With no rhyme or reason! Sometimes yellow was on the top, sometimes it was on the bottom! MADNESS! And then there was purple and pink cards, which made sense, but then they switched it up and had pink and yellow cards! And green and purple! WHAT?! Who puts together green and purple? Then there were brown and orange cards which make perfect sense until you got some cards where the orange didn't LOOK RIGHT. And the green and green cards? Why would you put together green and green??? WHYYYYYY. I had problems as a child. People have written articles about me that have been published in journals.

So along with the fact that I was dazed and confused by all the pretty colors there was another problem with the 1975 set. Two problems actually. The two problems you see above. George and Robin. Two Hall of Famers. Two guys who everyone knew were going to be Hall of Famers from the get go. Two guys whose rookie cards were damned expensive even in the first pricing guide I ever got. And the bastards never dropped. Basically I just never bothered with this set because it seemed unattainable. I don't mind chasing after the unobtainable - hell, I'm trying to complete the 1972 Topps set - but unless I really really like the set I'm chasing having a big road block in the way to completion is a turn off. But now I've attained the unobtainable! I can chase this set now! The quest to complete 1975 Topps is on!

There is a reason this pair so sought after, these are two pretty great cards. You can tell these cards are from the heyday of the '70s just by the hair. Brett is standing in that classic staged batting pose in the middle of foul territory for no reason. Robin crouches in the 'baseball ready' fielding pose taught to every little leaguer. Both cards have a vaguely airbrushed feel even though they didn't need it. Ths pictures are soft and a little grainy for that nostalgic feel. Both photos have an artistic feel. George's card has a striking perspective reminiscent of Munch's scream. Robin's background is of solid rectangular fields of color like a baseball version of Rothko. And everyone has seen these cards a million times - in books, on card magazine covers, in price guides, on reprint cards, online. And with over 6000 hits between 'em the players themselves are pretty iconic as well.

These cards were dirt cheap, mainly because they are in pretty scruffy condition. But when I saw then back to back in that bargain box, I knew they both had to come home with me. I couldn't risk having the pair separated, they belong together. When I page out my '75 set later this week, they'll both be on the same page. Robin on the front on the bottom left corner, George on the back in the top right corner.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Time to show off the Vintage show loot I teased this weekend. Previously I counted down to the best card I picked up at a show with varying results. This time I took my crippling writer's block into consideration (Heritage Frankenset, anyone?) and said hell with it, I'm starting at #1 this time.

NUMBER 1 CARD:

1955 Bowman Hank Aaron

Isn't that a beautiful light standard? The fake wood grain is also quite classy. And check out that font! Bold but understated, not flashy. And it's also a friggin second year Aaron card.

The last few times I've been to this card show I've been tempted by a pricey card and mostly stayed away. I've passed up Yogis and Satchels and at least one Jackie. Last year I did bite the bullet and snagged a Phil Niekro rookie for a little more than I'd usually spend. Once I get over a certain price point, it gets really hard for me to pull the trigger. Do I want one nice card when I could fill a couple dozen holes in my 1956 Topps set with the dough? That didn't happen this time. I looked through the cheapskate case (not to be confused with the bargain box, which was hit with great ferociousness) passed on another '53 Yogi that was slightly more expensive than the last one I saw, saw a '56 Topps Aaron that I already had (and was probably picked up by MadduxGlavineSmoltz) aaaaaaaaaand then I saw this card.

And then the price.

And then because Roger was across the room I pulled a card show no-no and reached around the glass and snagged that sucker before anyone else even had a chance to walk into the room.

Mind you, by this point I had only glanced at a couple rows in the bargain box so I didn't have much on my plate so far. Even though this card was going to cover about half that plate I knew I had to finally pull the trigger on a pricey one. It's Hank. From the '50s. There's a warter stain at the top and the right side is bent exactly as it would bend if some fool put it in a holder that wasn't big enough for it or stacked it in with a bunch of standard sized cards but who the hell cares? Honestly I have problems finding some Hanks from the '60s at this price, I hadda do it. This came at a price though, as this was the first card show I went to in years where I didn't pick up a '53 Topps card. I've hit that point where everything left is going to be a Jackson at least and I had to decide on priorities this show. Other things left behind: Yet another Niekro rookie in wonderfully horrible condition, a 1952 Topps Brave card I needed and not one but BOTH 1953 Bowman Joe Adcock cards. Oh well, Hank is better than all that.

Another thing I didn't do at this show was finish up any sets or series or team sets. I really wanted to complete something so I could show it off and let the world know how cool I was but it didn't happen. Struck out on '72 Topps cards. Sorta struck out on '74 Topps cards. Nibbled away at quite a few Braves teams sets but didn't seal the deal on any. I did pull off something that will go a looong way toward the completion of a set, but that's another post. Even this Hank didn't kill off my '55 Bowman set. I still need a couple of high series cards and '55 Bowman high numbers ain't easy, even for commons. BUT... while the very last card needed to finish off many a Braves team set will end up being the Hank, that's not the case with this one. Let's stare at it some more, shall we?

Saturday, June 8, 2013

I've got my card show haul in a pile on my desk waiting to be scanned. I'll get to it soon enough since I really want to show off a couple of jaw-droppers I found. But since Roger was kind enough to let me take some pictures I figured it'd be good to show you all what you can get at the vintage card show in Marietta while it's actually going on. Photo dump in 3... 2... 1...

Let's start with heartbreak. Some poor guy got this 'inventively aged' Mickey Mantle photocopy on fleabay and dropped it off with Roger because he never wanted to see it again. Hopefully he doesn't read this blog...

Here's some REAL Mantles.

Oh hai thar big ol' pile of 1952 Topps

Also old hockey cards and even more Mantles.

Like the football? You can haz football.

Choo Choo!

I like baseball though. Here's some '60s cards with oddballs mixed in

ACTUAL '64 Venezuelan cards with the black backs. And check out that run of Reggies!

I don't even know what the heck these pink cards are but one of 'em has a Milwaukee Braves cap.

The only thing better than cards from the '60s is cards from the '50s.

Wouldn't you rather spend your money on this Hank instead of the 2013 Heyward knock off?

Hank: Baby Bulls and Yellow Letters and Felt Logos, oh my!

BOWMAN'D

(Drools over ugly Spahnnie)

The only thing better than cards from the '50s is pre-war cards.

A Tattoo Orbit card of a Boston Brave is one of my collecting dreams.

Me likey the Big Heads

Here's a couple Bowman Braves that I'll likely never get for my team sets because they are ugly and 'spensive

Let's have something pretty instead. JIM BROWN ROOKIE

This is the 'kickass case' that I'm always raving about. Coolness all the way down

Among all the other insane cards here THERE'S A BIG PILE OF KOUFAX ROOKIES

Here's something you may have never seen before... Season passes (?) for the 1960 AFL Dallas Texans.

ODDBALLZ! Double Header Hank and Red Heart Spahn

A whole case of oddball odd-sized stuff.

Hassan Triple Folders! I love these things

Now this is an oddball lineup. Goudey premium Pepper Martin, PCL card from 1910, '51 Topps Team card, '59 Bazooka giant card and a little bit of an ancient Yankee ticket stub.

Here's the cheapskate case! I got a card out of here!

The 1953 Yogi I would have regretted passing up had I not found a different card in the case.

BARGAIN BOXES. I destroyed these things and still left some really good stuff behind.

Topps Team poster from the late '60s-early '70s. This thing is huge

Official Mickey Mantle pencils. A-Rod ain't got no pencils

Buncha lotta Sporting News record books

World Series Program from 1940!

I was fortunate enough to see a lot of choice stuff displayed while I was there. I think this all came from a recent purchase where the owner keps all his cards in a plastic tub under the house. No, really. Go to the show and ask Roger.

T205 Mathewson!

T206 Mathewson!!

T206 Walter Johnson!!!

T206 Ty Cobb!!!!!

An old T202(?) Ramly card. This is another one of my Boston Brave (um... Beaneater) white whales.

again the back of the card simply because I wanted to hold the case that held this card in my hand for just a sweet, sweet moment

And here's the whole Shebang. IT's happening right now at the Courtyard Marriott on Delk Road off of I-75 in Marietta see my previous post for details be there or be square or wait till he goes to the National. If you see this post on Monday well that's your fault for not checking over the weekend, eh?

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About Me

One man's tireless crusade to promote card collecting as an addictive alternative to more pharmacological pursuits. Remember kids: Do Drugs, Cards have gotten entirely too stupid. Or don't, see if I care when you RUIN YOUR LIFE FOREVER

Dayf the Blogger has a Posse

My original crappy neglected blog what I'm trying to resurrect this year

Note on the Blogroll

If you have a blog, and it ain't on here, LET ME KNOW! There are a lot of good blogs I'm missing out on. I'm also very forgetful and sometimes forget to put it on the list even if I do find a good one. If your blog is about cards or trading or sports in general I'll fit it in, but don't try to sneak your blog about politics or cats or crop rotation in the 14th century on here.